Godskook
2010-12-10, 03:04 PM
Ok, I'm running a RL campaign, and one of my players is a low-level artificer. Problem is, his system-mastery isn't great, and for artificer, is zero, since he's never played the class. *I've* never played the class either, but I know a good bit about it in terms of what I've read around here. Problem is, most of what I've read around here assumes higher level play, so I'm more rusty on the basics of the class than I am on the finer points of optimization(such as which items to craft and such).
So what is the basics of running an artificer? I know he needs a *really* good UMD score, so I'm advising him towards Skill Focus(UMD).
He's already got his first level feats selected, and the most relevant one for now is combat casting.
Relevant houserules:
-Currently, no action points. Do artificers need this at all?
-Metamagic stacking is limited for full-casters by the clause "must be able to cast without reducers before casting with reducers". For the metamagic class features, this translates into a level cap, possibly with a 2 level penalty.(So an artificer can't empower a scroll of magic missile till 5th or 7th level) Crafting items with the metamagic built in is more reasonable since it can still get quite costly.
-Feats and Point-Buy can both be bought at the cost of xp. The PC in question is currently at about 17 point-buy, with a good int bonus and charisma penalty. (First feat cost 1k xp, 2nd is 2kgp, and so on, capped at 10 feats, and point-buy follows the formula of currenty PB squared in xp to get another point, capped at 30+level point-buy)
-Test of Spite is my "fallback" for justifying a nerf to anything, but I try to be more allowing than they are, in as much as their policy was a more "ban it if its broken" system, while I tend to take a more house-rules oriented approach(Lightning maces are allowed in my game, but "bonus attacks can't grant bonus attacks" for instance)
So what is the basics of running an artificer? I know he needs a *really* good UMD score, so I'm advising him towards Skill Focus(UMD).
He's already got his first level feats selected, and the most relevant one for now is combat casting.
Relevant houserules:
-Currently, no action points. Do artificers need this at all?
-Metamagic stacking is limited for full-casters by the clause "must be able to cast without reducers before casting with reducers". For the metamagic class features, this translates into a level cap, possibly with a 2 level penalty.(So an artificer can't empower a scroll of magic missile till 5th or 7th level) Crafting items with the metamagic built in is more reasonable since it can still get quite costly.
-Feats and Point-Buy can both be bought at the cost of xp. The PC in question is currently at about 17 point-buy, with a good int bonus and charisma penalty. (First feat cost 1k xp, 2nd is 2kgp, and so on, capped at 10 feats, and point-buy follows the formula of currenty PB squared in xp to get another point, capped at 30+level point-buy)
-Test of Spite is my "fallback" for justifying a nerf to anything, but I try to be more allowing than they are, in as much as their policy was a more "ban it if its broken" system, while I tend to take a more house-rules oriented approach(Lightning maces are allowed in my game, but "bonus attacks can't grant bonus attacks" for instance)